Chapter 4: Half the Power of an LPL Mid Laner! 【Two-in-One 5K】

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“I’m super hyped, Chicken Lord and Jack Ai!”
“Report! There’s a crash on the other side too, it’s Coin Bro and Left Hand, and the top lane is still Zoom Duke. Big clash ahead!”
“Turtle has five pro players, a full five-pro match! Let’s go!”
“Streamer, why not give the spot to Chicken Lord? Feels like the pressure is huge this game; half of LPL’s mid-lane powerhouses are here!”
“That’s true!”

As the match loading screen appeared, Ye Bo noticed several familiar garbled IDs from his own team. Even his live chat quickly grew lively.

Since 2021, the “Conqueror’s Rift” had completely closed the duo queue channel for Master rank and above, so getting these pros queued up solo in one game was a matter of luck.

At this moment, it was the off-season following the Spring Split.

Apart from RNG, who had just won the LPL Spring Championship and were preparing for the MSI Mid-Season Invitational, all other pro teams were on a short break.

No wonder the chance of meeting each other increased.

In Jack Ai’s stream, the webcam was deliberately minimized to downplay the size of his head. He was currently on a WeChat voice call with his old buddy Rookie.

“How about it, Old Song? The enemy mid is the King K, let’s give him a good lesson this round!”
“Hey, why’d you switch to support? Interact with our mid-laner, will you?”

Jack Ai and Left Hand were both TES players, so no chat reminders were needed; a shout was enough.

Nearby, Left Hand, with a vaguely Korean accent, said, “I didn’t get a position swap, Doinb is mid, so I’m going bot for a 1v1 with your real man.”

Chicken, sounding like from Xingjiang, added, “I’ve queued against this mid before — seems like an Akali specialist. He only plays mid, so I’ll support.”

“Alright, alright, let’s teach King K a lesson!”

Doinb had just finished a friendly chat with Left Hand.

Seeing the enemy first pick Akali on the first floor, he quickly countered with Sylas.

“Thanks to {I’m not retired, just unwanted} for the airplane... oh no, don’t bring my good friend down with you, I’m gonna get tilted!”
“Thanks {Shopping Jungle} for the airplane... I told you, Xiao Tian is my good buddy, don’t do this~”
“Thanks to the one who wanted to smash Xiao Tian with a hammer... tsk tsk, that ID... we’re all close friends here...”
“OMG! A hundred airplanes from {Xiao Tian isn’t worth seventy thousand}!!!”

“Alright, alright, the game’s starting, last minute for the draw! One card gets you a chance at 100,000! Streamer’s giving away goodies at a loss — take a shot to turn a bike into a motorcycle!”

Doinb, the pro who knew how to hype up a stream, was masterful with his teasing.

The 2021 Iceland incident had shattered old FPX, and this year Doinb had joined LNG.

Xiao Tian hadn’t seen playtime recently, tangled in some drama.

Just casually thanking for gifts, the stream chat and gift section soared simultaneously.

Doinb noticed the chat’s tone was drifting off, so he quickly aimed to steer it back to the game.

Picking up cues from the chat, he redirected the audience’s focus.

“Too bad, Rookie is on support — what a shame. Who just said the enemy mid was Rookie?”
“The enemy mid is a specialist, can’t give up the position...? What specialist? The top players in the Chinese server are just okay. Not giving up the spot is fair.”
“Too bad, then I’ll teach you how to play against Akali this round~”

Clearly, Doinb didn’t take this so-called street-level specialist seriously.

Ye Bo, caught in this star-studded match, saw his stream numbers climbing rapidly.

But once the match began, Ye Bo’s demeanor shifted from his earlier lively, playful streaming style.

His gaze hardened, filled with resolve and focus!

Though naturally a fun-loving entertainer, capable of solo banter even with an empty chat, once in-game, Ye Bo habitually locked in full concentration, regardless of rank.

Just like back when he helped his mom climb from Silver, he gave it his all, never easing up due to weaker opponents.

That was his attitude towards the game.

At 1:30 into the game, the shortest minion wave in the mid lane collided first.

Ye Bo had queued with Doinb before but hadn’t made a lasting impression then.

But since the previous game ended, he had changed.

Though he had only unlocked 1% of the Hero Compendium and no tangible changes yet, the first level 7 hero he had trained brought a 5% overall power boost from his specialty use, along with a deeper understanding of Akali’s advanced mechanics.

That alone made him feel renewed.

The two met at the wave, cautiously maintaining distance.

Doinb, as a current LPL mid-laner, though not famed for mechanics or laning, was still far above most high-ranked amateurs and knew the nuances of facing Akali.

Sylas held back skills, watching Akali’s moves.

If Akali showed herself, he’d use his W at level one to trade close-range blows.

If Akali played cautiously, they’d both safely pass level one — the ideal scenario for Sylas.

But at this moment, Akali suddenly stepped forward beyond the minion wave!

{As long as no hero takes damage, minions already attacking won’t shift aggro}

This move seemed like Akali was eager to poke with Q but was denied by Sylas’s precise spacing.

Doinb couldn’t help but smile.

Putting his streaming skills to work, he mimicked Dopa’s legendary line: “What specialist? This Akali’s laning is rough!”
“Watch closely, guys. If he dares take one more step forward, the lane’s over!”

Sylas had a known “level two kill” tactic: using the high base damage of E, follow up with perfect E-A-E-A passive combos, then lower his health to trigger the tenacity passive.

But anyone who knew this would simply stand behind minions at level one.

Sylas had no chance to cast E!

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Yet Akali’s push beyond the wave meant she left the minion shield, granting Sylas space for E!

As Sylas stepped into the minion cluster, Doinb instantly spun and cast E [Abscond], dashing aggressively!

Since Sylas kept distance to avoid Akali’s Q poke, they had been dancing around 600 units apart.

E’s dash covers 400 units.

The gap suddenly shrank to 200 units.

But Akali seemed to anticipate Sylas’s move and preemptively threw out Q [Shuriken Flip] just before he could strike!

The duel was subtle—Ye Bo had positioned himself perfectly to catch the E, and if he moved back, Sylas would lose experience and the initiative at level one.

Yet next, Akali didn’t retreat to quickly collect her passive ring but dashed to the energy ring on her left side.

A ghostly glow appeared beneath her feet.

Sylas’s second chain cast [Hijack] barely grazed the edge of Akali’s ninja outfit — hitting a blue melee minion behind!

“Oh no, messed that up?!”

Doinb, pulled back into the minion group by his own chain, reacted swiftly, turning while auto-attacking twice, then decisively retreating to minimize loss.

Sylas’s E cooldown at level one is 13 seconds, leaving him weak until it refreshes.

Meanwhile, Akali collected the passive ring but didn’t immediately attack, instead using the passive’s movement speed boost to chase.

Waiting for energy to recover, she planned to use double-range passive autos and Q’s slow to execute an A-Q-A combo, triggering Electrocute!

Sylas had drawn minion aggro upon using his passive in the minion cluster, taking heavy damage from the full combo.

Doinb felt a burning sting on his face.

He’d just said “one more step and it’s over...”

“Too bad, this guy’s slippery, and he hit the back minion with E, or else the Q wouldn’t have cost so much health.”
“Too bad, too bad~”

Doinb explained in chat, not wanting viewers to think he’d missed E.

In reality, this wasn’t a miscast.

At this level, especially for a current pro, such mistakes don’t happen.

At the highest tier, skill hits and misses aren’t random; if a skill is dodged, there’s always a reason beyond “good movement” or “missed skill.”

There is always invisible mind-game at play.

So what was the reason here?

Besides positioning, it was the perfect exploitation of Akali’s passive, “Ninja Art: Mark of the Hidden Dragon.”

Ye Bo baited the opponent’s disdain with a forward trap position, successfully Q’ing preemptively without being punished for casting animation.

That was a win in the mind-game.

Secondly, Akali’s two passive movement speed boosts:

One for dashing toward the ring’s edge before picking it up,

The other for dashing toward the enemy after collecting it.

Ye Bo’s choice to dash toward the energy ring’s edge instead of immediately collecting the passive was to maintain a 97-point movement speed boost!

What does 97 movement speed mean?

Basic boots add 25 movement speed, tier 3 boots add 60.

Even the fastest tier 5 boots max out at 115 out of combat.

This was almost an instant tier 5 boots speed burst!

This explosive speed allowed Akali, with preemptive action, to barely dodge the precise Sylas chain.

Afterward, delaying the use of the passive auto was also to maintain the dash speed to fully execute the double auto-Q combo.

On the minimap, their jungler, Zhu Zhu, pinged “On My Way!”

High-level players, especially junglers, have quick information reflexes.

Even without voice, observing side lanes for gank opportunities is basic jungle instinct.

Ye Bo caught on and acted accordingly.

He didn’t retreat despite the incoming jungle; instead, he pushed harder, trying to leverage his health advantage to pressure Sylas’s farming.

Meanwhile...

The enemy jungler, King, also pinged “On My Way!” to Sylas.

“Oh, this Akali’s faking it!”
“Wow, good timing, jungle bro! Let’s go! Why’s he faking it?”

Doinb, hearing a random player mock him on stream, felt embarrassed but thought highly of his jungler’s awareness.

Sylas healed back to 80% HP.

King circled behind and initiated a scan; seeing no vision, he committed to the gank.

Level two ganks cost a lot and require quick execution.

Also, they couldn’t let Akali hit level three; otherwise, her W could nullify the gank.

“Go in first, bro, just poke some damage. If you land E, I’ve got E to follow up!”

Doinb spammed “On My Way!” pings to King, signaling to initiate.

With Akali’s E and Flash, she was unlikely to die and would almost certainly dodge a skill, so Doinb’s strategy was sound.

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King understood the signal, closed in, and decisively launched an EQ combo.

But just as the Demacia flag went up...

Akali, after throwing Q, aimed mid-air at King and right-clicked — then flashed backward!

Yet, the passive mark was collected mid-air, crossing spatial barriers, she auto-attacked, unleashing extra sickle damage at a distance.

Auto-Flash!

An instant passive auto with Flash!

Akali, surrounded by golden light, executed a ghostly “motionless” falcon dance, as if silently firing a hidden dart from her sleeve.

Then she kicked off a green shadow, spinning back!

“Q-A-D-E-E-A!”

Dodging the EQ combo, she flashed, autoed to trigger Q’s passive, then E’d back to land the second passive, completing the full burst in an instant!

Meanwhile, behind the wall, their Sejuani lurked, casting a Q-Flash combo with follow-up auto and Red Buff slow.

Akali was a melee assassin.

Her autos helped Sejuani stack her E.

Akali’s auto-flash and grounded E-auto auto combo rapidly gave Sejuani two passive stacks.

Akali ignited and continued the chase.

Sylas learned EW at level two but couldn’t effectively aid.

King had expended EQ; seeing his health and crowd control stacks, he knew death was imminent, so he ceased casting further spells and simply tried to drain Sylas’s health.

One more sickle slash, and King died on the spot.

First blood explosion!

“Holy crap! This Akali! What a play!?”
“Hoho, Coin Bro got outplayed~”
“That King looks a bit like an Icelander, huh?”
“Exactly, why blame Coin Bro? King used EQ then flashed himself, who else’s fault?”
“Didn’t see any eyes, Akali got two autos on Sejuani, Sejuani Q’d Red Buff and stuck him—no escape. Why flash?”
“In the end, Akali’s the one who’s fierce. That E was so fast, looked like no animation?”
“Akali’s awesome!!!”

At this point, Doinb’s fans were all genuine supporters, none blaming him, only marveling at Akali’s moves.

Clearly, that play was visually stunning.

Like someone pretending to parry barehanded but instead twisting the blade’s tip to stab during the dodge!

Doinb was inwardly shocked.

If he still couldn’t see that Akali was unusual, it’d be a disservice to his status as a pro.

“Too bad, too bad.”
“Relax, it’s no big deal. At higher levels, Sylas can handle Akali at six.”

Doinb spammed “MID DF 6.50” in chat, maintaining a calm face on stream.

Ye Bo’s stream, boosted by enthusiastic viewers, shot up in numbers as many came to watch.

Akali pushed the wave and recalled.

During the recall, Ye Bo glanced at chat and was startled by the flood of messages.

Then, his playful nature kicked in.

“Alright, alright! If you think the streamer’s last play was cool, hit the chat!”
“That ‘Auto-Flash no animation E’ move? That’s my little invention~”

In truth, this technique was his revelation upon reaching level seven—a hidden trick saving about half a second in combos.

Most importantly, the E had no casting animation; otherwise, the obvious wind-up could be reacted to.

The principle was that the auto-attack flash’s animation masked the E’s wind-up.

Those searching for this trick were clearly fans of the play.

Many responded warmly.

“Walk on! Hit follow, and the streamer will teach you another Akali trick!”
“Didn’t we almost buy the guidebook for this?”
“Don’t rush, first step out, then this, then that...”

Akali was just short of gold for a second Amplifying Tome, needing about ten seconds to wait.

She moved to the midline between the first turret and the base’s crystal.

At the right moment, she cast W in place, then E backward, marking smoke bomb with Falcon Dance!

Akali then proceeded to the fountain’s edge, bought pre-selected gear, and immediately casted second E forward, leaping straight back to the smoke bomb’s foot.

“This saves about ten seconds leaving base, super practical when low on gold waiting for gear!”
“As everyone knows, time is money, money is gear, gear is victory! If minions come under the tower now, missing those ten seconds means losing four or five minions — that’s a hundred gold, roughly half a kill!”
“Next wave, you might lack that hundred gold, miss gear, get solo killed, then lack gold again, get solo killed again...”
“So this trick is basically worth at least three kills!”
“Applaud if you get it!!”

His solo monologue made the chat from the opposing stream laugh, barely caring about the trick itself.

The stream reached unprecedented liveliness; follower count visibly surged.

But once back online, Ye Bo immediately returned to his focused, serious state.